Photo Flash: First Look at A.C.T.'s MEN ON BOATS

Get a first look below Men on Boats-Jaclyn Backhaus's hilarious, historical, and moving adventure-performing at American Conservatory Theater's Strand Theater now through Sunday, December 16, 2018.

Spinning historical, theatrical, and gender conventions on their heads, this subversive tale of ten men, four boats, and two rivers contains none of the above. Pack your gear for this 21st-century theatrical spin on 19th-century American explorer and one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell, who assembles a brawny and eclectic band of men-soldiers, trappers, and adventurers-to explore Wyoming's waterways. Inspired by Powell's actual travel log from 1869, Jaclyn Backhaus's nimble and ingenious script is provocative, laugh-out-loud theater, performed by a cast of women who infuse America's historic myths of male conquest with a sly blast of subtext. With the speed and force of white-water rapids, Backhaus conjures her epic story-in which simple materials are transformed into perilous canyons and death-defying cliffs-out of movement and sheer imagination, shaping an innovative and innately theatrical play that became an off-Broadway sensation.

Under the direction of Tamilla Woodard (co-founder of PopUP Theatrics; Artistic Director of The Five Boroughs/One City Initiative at Working Theater), Men on Boatsfeatures a cast of ten local San Francisco Bay Area actors. They are (in alphabetical order): Arwen Anderson (King Lear at California Shakespeare Theater; Hamlet at Marin Shakespeare Company), Rosie Hallett (Red Speedo at Center REPertory Company; Thomas and Sally at Marin Theatre Company), Lisa Hori-Garcia (The Gangster of Love at Magic Theatre; Snow Queen at Marin Theatre Company), Libby King (RooseElvis at The TEAM; Uncle Vanya at East 13th Street Theatre), Amy Lizardo (The Unfortunates at A.C.T.; Quijote Nuevo at California Shakespeare Theater), Sarita Ocón (Twelfth Night at California Shakespeare Theater; Ghost Lightat Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Annemaria Rajala (A Little Night Music at A.C.T.;Our Enemies at Golden Thread Productions), Katherine Romans (A.C.T. M.F.A student; The Importance of Being Earnest at Livermore Shakespeare Festival), Liz Sklar (A.C.T. M.F.A. graduate; Seagull at Marin Theatre Company), and Lauren Spencer (King Charles III at A.C.T.; Anne Boleyn at Marin Theatre Company).

Tickets are available by calling 415-749-2228 or visiting www.act-sf.org.

Photo Credit: Kevin Berne